Joe Ely - Live Shots (1980)

Joe Ely had earned a reputation as a Texas honky tonk man who wasn't going to play by Nashville's rules long before he took the Clash up on an offer to tour Europe and the U.K. as their opening act in 1979. Thankfully, someone had the bright idea of bringing in a recording truck to document Ely's set opening for Joe Strummer and company in London, and Live Shots captures Ely and his band tearing it up in front of a spirited audience. While Ely and his bandmates didn't have to worry about playing too fast or too hot to trouble a Kenny Rogers fan who may have stumbled by, they also didn't feel the need to rock up their set more than usual to please the Clash's audience. If this is tough, furious honky tonk music, it's still honky tonk to the core, with Lloyd Maines' steel guitar and Ponty Bone's squeezebox taking their honored places in the arrangements, and Ely delivers the broken-hearted "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me" with the same fervor as he wails on the bluesy "Long Snake Moan" or the rollicking "Johnny's Blues." Live Shots also shows just how great a band Ely was working with at the time, as these takes sound just about as tight as their studio counterparts, but with a good bit more sweat and swagger, and Ely's vocals are as impassioned as anyone who appeared on the stage that evening. Live Shots is the sound of a Lone Star roadhouse being shipped over to Great Britain for the evening, and the Brits who stopped by clearly knew they were catching something good; on this night, Joe Ely casually made one of the best records of his career.